Does Maryland have equivalent of TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair sends many to University of MD.

Because it has very strong tech/science programs and offer most Blair kids merit aid in addition to being instate. I can speak from experience it is a difficult choice between a auper selective super expensive private school and a strong state school which costs about 80% less after merit aid.

+1

A lot of Blair students go to Maryland because their parents cannot afford to pay $300K+ for college. They can attend their excellent flagship at a vastly reduced price (most get merit money) and save the excess for grad school.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has a fundamentally different model. So, it depends on what you are really asking.

Would a profoundly gifted kid have the opportunity to work to the edge of their ability, and have access to robust connections with the university research community + various science/math competitions in Montgomery County? Yes.

Would such a child have access to an entire school full of kids like him/her, rather than just a cohort within a larger schoool? No.

I don't think either model is better/worse. Just different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Equivalent of TJ in competitiveness and name-recognition, no. But lots of Maryland districts (because, surprise surprise, MoCo isn't the only district in MD) have STEM magnets that are great programs.

The MoCo magnets, and Eleanor Roosevelt in PGCo have been mentioned. Anne Arundel has 3 STEM magnets with the school-within-a-school model, but AACo magnets are lotteries among all the qualified kids, so you don't have the crazy competitiveness of trying to differentiate among a lot of very smart kids.
I'm not sure what program Howard County has.

Blair SMACS is smaller than TJ but it outperforms TJ.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regeneron_Science_Talent_Search

I think Blair's little program also beats TJ in It's Academic annually. Has a higher SAT average. It has more NMSF per capita than TJ. Has members of the US math olympiad. Sure it's smaller but more prestigious. About 6% of the class ends up at MIT. Similar numbers at Harvard and Standford.

[Anonymous]

No, and we don't want it or care to have it. Our smart Asian population is higher than in NoVa and they can afford tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While there are some exceptional kids in MCPS, Maryland has no equivalent to TJ nor does it have anywhere near the same number of high performing students.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha...........

[Anonymous]

Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.

None of the magnets you mentioned are at truly low performing schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.


None of the magnets you mentioned are at truly low performing schools.

They certainly are at low performing schools. Heck Blair has two magnets (SMACS and CAP). CAP is one of the regional type magnets that pulls kids from fewer schools. Even with two magnets Blair is barely a 6 and without them it would end up being a 3. Poolesville would be so under enrolled it would close. It would be lucky to rank as a 5/6 without its magnets. RM was also in danger of being closed and was severely under enrolled as well as low performing when the magnet was placed there. It is a 6 with the magnet. RM and Poolesville are in safe places but Blair is in a higher crime area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.


None of the magnets you mentioned are at truly low performing schools.

They certainly are at low performing schools. Heck Blair has two magnets (SMACS and CAP). CAP is one of the regional type magnets that pulls kids from fewer schools. Even with two magnets Blair is barely a 6 and without them it would end up being a 3. Poolesville would be so under enrolled it would close. It would be lucky to rank as a 5/6 without its magnets. RM was also in danger of being closed and was severely under enrolled as well as low performing when the magnet was placed there. It is a 6 with the magnet. RM and Poolesville are in safe places but Blair is in a higher crime area.

RM was underenrolled when it became a magnet 30 years ago! Now the area is overcrowded has much higher income areas. Poolesville would be underenrolled because it is in a rural area not because it is a bad school. Even Blair is not in the category of low performers...Gaithersburg HS, Seneca Valley etc.

[Anonymous]

Yes. According to Newsweek, it’s Baltimore Poly.

https://www.newsweek.com/americas-best-stem-high-schools-2020

[Anonymous]

Blair

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.


None of the magnets you mentioned are at truly low performing schools.

They certainly are at low performing schools. Heck Blair has two magnets (SMACS and CAP). CAP is one of the regional type magnets that pulls kids from fewer schools. Even with two magnets Blair is barely a 6 and without them it would end up being a 3. Poolesville would be so under enrolled it would close. It would be lucky to rank as a 5/6 without its magnets. RM was also in danger of being closed and was severely under enrolled as well as low performing when the magnet was placed there. It is a 6 with the magnet. RM and Poolesville are in safe places but Blair is in a higher crime area.

Another way to better understand the quality of education of one school or another is to perform more granular apples to apple analysis. Simple averages for standardized state test that GS uses for its ratings only serves to identify which high-schools draw a higher percentage of affluent kids. A better approach is to look at the granular data. When you isolate for race which is proxy a for socioeconomic status there is not much of a disparity between the performance of kids of the same backgrounds across these schools. For example, when you compare average SAT scores for MCPS schools for a larger demographic common to all these schools the GS narrative falls apart and it becomes clear they're not all that different.

Blair 1326
Walter Johnson 1275
Wooton 1262
Churchill 1257

https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/shared...c_Perf%20Class%20of%202017.pdf

[pettifogger]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Former MOCO resident here. MD does not an equivalent of TJ. PG has a TAG program which is similar to AAP. I think Howard's GT program is also similar to AAP. MOCO's magnet program is very fractured and frankly a PITA to navigate. None of the programs are truly county-wide. The more well known and top magnet programs - Blair SMAC, Poolesville, RM IB program pull from a broader subset of the county that encompasses the highest performing schools (Ws) and the local schools plus a handle of schools in the middle. There are a ton of other less rigorous special magnet programs all over the county accessible within your own school only or to limited set of surrounding ones. At best these offer some interesting subjects but the quality is not particularly high and the population is basically the rejects from the other magnets.

MCPS basically sees the magnet program as a way to lure families with more wealth and higher performing kids into low performing ,less desirable areas. Depending on where you live magnets may a VERY long bus ride. The biggest down side to this is that the magnets are narrowly focused so your child is not only getting bussed a long distance but they are being mixed in with the rest of the non-magnet local population that is pretty low performing for the non-magnet subjects as opposed to a whole magnet with high expectations in all subjects.


None of the magnets you mentioned are at truly low performing schools.

They certainly are at low performing schools. Heck Blair has two magnets (SMACS and CAP). CAP is one of the regional type magnets that pulls kids from fewer schools. Even with two magnets Blair is barely a 6 and without them it would end up being a 3. Poolesville would be so under enrolled it would close. It would be lucky to rank as a 5/6 without its magnets. RM was also in danger of being closed and was severely under enrolled as well as low performing when the magnet was placed there. It is a 6 with the magnet. RM and Poolesville are in safe places but Blair is in a higher crime area.

Another way to better understand the quality of education of one school or another is to perform more granular apples to apple analysis. Simple averages for standardized state test that GS uses for its ratings only serves to identify which high-schools draw a higher percentage of affluent kids. A better approach is to look at the granular data. When you isolate for race which is proxy a for socioeconomic status there is not much of a disparity between the performance of kids of the same backgrounds across these schools. For example, when you compare average SAT scores for MCPS schools for a larger demographic common to all these schools the GS narrative falls apart and it becomes clear they're not all that different.

Blair 1326
Walter Johnson 1275
Wooton 1262
Churchill 1257

https://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/shared...c_Perf%20Class%20of%202017.pdf

Not sure I understand the numbers you posted. These seem to be the overall averages at each school. However, Blair has magnet programs within the school, such as SMCS program, which by itself would have a very high SAT average (1500+) The average SAT score of the whole school would be significantly pulled upwards if you weigh in the magnet scores from SMCS and CAP into the average. So this is not an apples to apples comparison.